ABSTRACT
Water scarcity for agriculture has been growing year after year due to various reasons, for which the government has been very keen to increase the water-use efficiency with its new slogan “more crops per drop.” The government has envisaged promoting micro-irrigation system (MIS) and increasing the area under these water-saving technologies. The pressurized irrigation network system (PINS) is one such new innovative concept that acts as interface between water source and MIS in farm plots and increases the area under irrigation through adoption of MIS. However, there is a dearth of studies on its performance and management by water user associations (WUAs). Thus, the present study assesses the extent of adoption and performance of PINS in Gujarat, India. The study also analyzes the role of PINS in enhancing irrigation coverage and water-use efficiency in the selected states of the country. The study is based on both secondary and primary data. PINS were selected from both surface irrigation command (mainly canal) and groundwater irrigation command areas 210(mainly tube well). A total of 200 beneficiary and 100 nonbeneficiary households (hhs) were surveyed in the state. The study finds that tube well PINS are performing well whereas all the canal PINS are defunct in the state. The water savings due to judicious use of water, increase in agricultural income, and electricity saving were the major common benefits accrued by the beneficiary water users/farmers in the state. The results of the probit model indicated that more area under PINS–MIS, uninterrupted regular power supply, more depth of tube well, sufficiency of water in PINS, and group membership helped in realizing the benefits like increase in yield and income, water saving, and energy saving by the beneficiary farmers. The study suggests to discourage more water-consuming cropping pattern through incentives/disincentives, checking water theft, revising water rates, and relocating the canal PINS at far-off places from minors/subminors for better adoption of canal PINS for enhancing irrigation coverage and water-use efficiency, which will reduce the level of instability in agricultural production in these water-scarce states.
